Weena and Spook in the Press

They left New York for Boston and began to create interiors for residential clients in the city and on the Cape. Weena & Spook rooms are variously hued, revealing the sure use of color the designers developed during years in the fashion industry. For their own home, however, their vision was uncompromising. “We chose this place because it was a nice box, all white,” says Nault. “Our stuff would fit here really well.”

The 10th grade isn’t exactly considered a breeding ground for style. But when Paul White and David Nault met in their high school cafeteria, it wasn’t just love at first sight—it was design destiny. The pair have been joined at the hip ever since.

This reinterpretation of a humble 19th-century Yankee barn hugs the northern edge of an unusually large lot in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and it was this generous piece of land that both inspired the house design and was its genesis.

The owner, who is originally from the Midwest, had planned to build three smaller houses on the 175-by-176 foot plot. However, he soon came to realize that this open patch of land in a densely packed urban neighborhood was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a dream house for his family of four.

Alli and Bill Achtmeyer are nothing if not brave. Likewise, the working relationship between the homeowners and Nault and designer Paul White, who together own the Boston-based firm Weena & Spook, was atypical. Longtime friends, they viewed this project as a true collaboration, and a fun one. “From the beginning, we all decided that we had to really go for it,” says White.

The importance of making a good entrance cannot be overstated. For David Nault and Paul White, owners of Weena & Spook in Osterville, Massachusetts, designing the foyer to the Boston Design Center’s Dream Home meant creating a comforting and serene space to set the tone for the rooms that follow, and then adding a few endearingly homespun details.

Everything about the Cape Cod home of David Nault and Paul White appears effortlessly pleasing. The windows in their late-18th-century house allow a stream of dreamy light to filter into the ancient-meets-modern interior.